He frowned at her in puzzlement. ‘No one’s managed what so far?’
‘Um…’ Her cheeks flared with heat and she had to look away from his probing gaze.
Bryn leaned forward a fraction, his expression becoming incredulous as realisation dawned. ‘You mean you’ve never actually had sex?’
She didn’t answer.
‘You’re what…twenty-four years old and you’ve never—?’
‘Will you keep your voice down?’ she hissed back at him. ‘Someone will hear you.’
He sat back in his chair and shook his head in amazement. ‘I can’t believe it.’ He gave a quick self-deprecating laugh. ‘I employ a virgin to act as my wife. Hell, I must be out of my mind.’
She gave him a resentful scowl. ‘I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal about it. Anyway, most men still maintain the double standard by having sex indiscriminately until they decide they want to choose a wife and future mother of their children, then they want someone who hasn’t been around the block too many times.’
‘No wonder you couldn’t act that role,’ he said. ‘I was right after all. You didn’t have a clue how to play a seductress.’
‘I do know what goes on, you know,’ she said. ‘I’m not totally clueless.’
His midnight-blue gaze twinkled. ‘So you’ve gone south solo a few times to see how things work?’
Hot colour flooded her face but she forced herself to hold his taunting look. ‘That’s none of your business.’
He gave a soft laugh at her discomfiture. ‘Don’t be embarrassed. I think it’s delightful. It shows you’re not a total prude.’
‘There’s nothing prudish about being selective with whom you share your body, especially these days. You don’t know what you might catch.’
‘No, indeed there isn’t, but you surely can’t have had a lack of opportunity. You’re a beautiful-looking young woman with a great body. You must have been fighting men off for years.’
Mia berated herself for reacting to his compliments but she just couldn’t help feeling a glow of warmth as his words washed over her. She disguised her reaction by saying airily, ‘I’ve had a few boyfriends.’
‘But no one has ever tempted you to sleep with them?’
She met his eyes once more. ‘No one so far.’
He gave her an unreadable little smile as he signalled to the waiter for the bill. ‘Then I guess the road is wide open to me.’
She hitched her chin up a fraction as he drew her to her feet. ‘Better men than you have tried and failed,’ she informed him coldly.
His eyes were alight with challenge. ‘No, what you mean is, better men than me have tried and given up. I don’t believe in giving up. If I want something, I make damned sure I get it.’
‘Not this time,’ she said with overblown confidence. ‘If you don’t keep to your side of the deal I won’t be obliged to keep to mine.’ She drew in a breath and tacked on recklessly, ‘I will go to the Press with the truth about our relationship. Then what will your great-aunt think of you? She’ll know you lied to her when she was most vulnerable, and no matter what your motive was, I don’t think she will forgive you.’
His eyes started to smoulder as they held hers. ‘If you do that I will be forced to play dirty with you, Mia. Don’t make me show you how ruthless I can be.’
She didn’t get a chance to respond, for he grasped her hand and practically dragged her out of the restaurant and over to his car.
‘Get in,’ he bit out as he opened the passenger door.
She got in but only because people were starting to look at them, and she didn’t want to create a scene. She sat stiffly in her seat and watched as he strode around to the driver’s side, his expression dark with simmering anger.
He waited until they were on their way before he spoke, his voice chillingly hard and determined. ‘I swear to God, Mia, if my great-aunt’s last weeks or months of life are ruined by you leaking something to the Press you will seriously regret it. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll throw everything at you. You will never work again—in any industry. Don’t think I wouldn’t or couldn’t do it, for I can, and I will.’
Mia felt deeply ashamed of her impulsive threat but there was no way her pride would allow her to show it. ‘I’m not scared of you,’ she tossed back. ‘You can threaten me all you like but I’m not scared.’
‘Then perhaps you should be,’ he said. ‘Didn’t you read the fine print on those documents I sent for you to sign?’
She felt an icy shiver pass over her skin. She had read the documents but only briefly. The legal terms had been offputting enough, but when Gina had come home unexpectedly and started to peer over her shoulder Mia had hastily signed the highlighted sections and stuffed the documents back in the return express envelope and posted it.
‘Let me refresh your memory,’ he continued when she didn’t respond. ‘There is a clause on page five that states that if you, the undersigned, at any point during the duration of our marriage reveal intimate information about our relationship to the Press or anyone else, you will have to repay all monies already allocated to you as well as the legal fees in the subsequent defamation case I will immediately activate with my legal advisors.’ He sent her a quick, brittle glance and continued in the same chilling tone, ‘In case the legalese is a bit hard for you to understand, let me put it in layperson’s terms: I am going to take you to the cleaners.’
Mia compressed her lips as she thought about how much money might be involved. It was a daunting scenario and one she was going to have to do her very best to avoid. Her parents were comfortably well off but certainly not in Bryn’s league and, while her brother-in-law, Jake, was extremely wealthy, she didn’t want to involve him in a public fight that could turn out to be very nasty. And until Ellie was out of danger she had no choice but to play by the rules.
Bryn’s fierce loyalty to his only living relative was certainly admirable and perhaps a clue to whom he really was as a person, but she didn’t like the thought of being on the receiving end of his wrath if things didn’t go according to plan.
‘Anyone could have heard you in there,’ he said into the tight silence. ‘You know the deal. In public we are like any other normal couple in love, if you want to pick a fight with me then please have the sense to do so while we are in private.’
‘I won’t go to the Press if you stick to your side of the deal. You can pay me to be your wife but there’s no amount of money on this earth that I would accept to become your lover,’ she said stiffly.
‘Fine.’ He shoved the car into top gear. ‘But as I said, if you ever change your mind just let me know.’
She gave a scornful snort. ‘As if.’
His eyes clashed with hers for a brief moment. It was hardly more than a fraction of a second but Mia had to turn away.
She felt herself being thrust back in her seat as he floored the throttle—the atmosphere crackled with tension and her stomach gave a funny little quiver when he drawled, ‘We’ll see.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
Two days before the wedding Mia visited Agnes at the palliative-care unit. She had deliberated over it for days, wondering if it was wise to see the old lady without Bryn present, but the temptation to find out more about his background from the person who knew him best was far too tempting to resist. She didn’t